“Your guy?” David asked, nodding at Rob’s receding back.
“Yeah.”
“Nice. I’m glad he was here to see this.”
Evie smiled. “You have a girl?”
David returned the smile and said easily, “I do. We’ve been dating a number of years now. She’s still in New York, but is moving back to Chicago soon.” He nodded an acknowledgment to a person in the crowd. “I hear you’re hosting tonight.”
“I hope you like your chili hot and your jambalaya spicy,” she replied with a smile. She was the only one in the group who actually lived in the Illinois capital of Springfield. She had volunteered her home and a meal for their first gathering as a team.
“It sounds perfect for a cold day.”
The others joined them as they got clear of the press. She would have the honor of working alongside some of the best detectives in the state. Sharon Noble in charge, Theodore Lincoln out of Chicago, Taylor Aims from St. Louis, David Marshal back from New York. She hoped to keep up, to pull her weight, to do solid, effective work representing the Illinois State Police.
“How about directions, Evie, and we’ll reassemble at your place?” Sharon suggested. “Besides a nice meal, we’re going to be able to get some actual work done today. This is exciting,” she said, rubbing her cold hands together. They all laughed at her enthusiasm.
Evie gave directions, then added, “The dogs are Apollo and Zeus and love nothing more than to have a rumble with guys. You want to make a friend for life, toss a tennis ball and watch them smash into snowdrifts for the catch. Neighbors on both sides are in Florida for the season, so park wherever the snowplows have cut a path.” She glanced at her new boss. “Sharon, why don’t you bring John? Since your Riverside PD will be doing task-force paperwork, shouldn’t he be in on the opening round of decisions? There’s plenty of food.”
“He’s got to meet up with Commander Foster first, but I’ll suggest he come by after that,” Sharon agreed. John Graham, deputy chief of the Riverside PD, would be involved even if not formally. Sharon presently wore John’s ring, and wedding plans were in the works. Evie was hoping to have a few minutes to ask John for wedding-shower gift ideas.
Plans settled, the group dispersed toward the parking lot.
“Evie, I think your dogs are stalking me.”
She set down the pitcher of iced tea and turned, saw that David was right. The German shepherds were about four feet behind him, both in a hunting stance, intently creeping up on him. She grinned. They’d attack his shoelaces if they could get close enough. “They get bored during the winter.” She walked over and interrupted their hunt, leaned down and scratched behind their ears. “Relax, guys. He’s too big for a decent quarry. Go play with your rope or find your ducks.”
David laughed as they reluctantly headed out of the kitchen. “You’ve got to give them credit for working together.” He dipped himself another bowl of chili, added grated cheese and crackers. “It’s great chili, by the way.”
“Thanks—my grandmother’s recipe. Throw it in a crock-pot, it’s ready any time.”
She dipped out a bowl of the jambalaya and carried it with her iced tea over to the table, glancing at Sharon, who gave a nod to her questioning look.
“I vote we head to the most heartbreaking counties first,” Evie said, responding to the question at hand. “Douglas County has three missing seven-year-olds, plus a school principal and a grandmother.”
“That county needs to be on our short list,” Theo agreed, writing it on the large whiteboard she’d brought in for their convenience. They had already determined to work county by county, taking a fresh look at cold cases five to fifteen years old. Evie had done a test run of the strategy in Carin County over her vacation last November, and it had worked well. Which county to head to first was the question on the table.
“We will have extra media interest in the initial months,” Taylor said. “We can use that to get the public’s help with certain cases. Those missing in Briar County, for example, cover the gamut,” he added, reviewing a summary sheet. “A wife and two daughters. A college student. A businessman in his fifties. A teenage boy. A private investigator. That’s a lot of human interest in one place, helping keep appeals for information prominent in the news.”
“Not to be too political, but do we want to factor in the likelihood of solving the cases into our decision?” David asked, setting down the second bowl of chili and pulling out a chair beside Evie. “Some cases have already had more media exposure, more manpower hours, than others. Clark County has two missing women, both with a history of prostitution. The reality is they likely wouldn’t have been worked as aggressively as the missing seven-year-olds. And if we could solve those two cases, we likely would be able to do the same in adjacent counties, since those kinds of missing persons tend to be part of a larger pattern.”